


Be Mine, Valentine

by Summer_Meadows



Category: White Collar
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23758876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summer_Meadows/pseuds/Summer_Meadows
Summary: It's Valentine's Day in the NY White Collar Division and Neal has added "making cheesy valentines" to his long list of skills. As Neal gives and receives Valentine's Day cards, he prepares for his date with Sara in which he intends to give her a truly special present that she has been wanting for a long time!
Relationships: Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey/Sara Ellis
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Be Mine, Valentine

With a wide smile on his face, Neal strolled off the elevator. After dropping his hat at his desk, he went up the stairs to Peter’s office. With a proud grin he dropped an envelope on Peter’s desk and asked, “How are you and El going to celebrate this evening?”   
With a skeptical glance at Neal, Peter picked up the envelope and answered, “There is a new Italian place opening down the street tonight, we have reservations.”   
Neal nodded, saying “Nice, have a good time” as he exited the office and made his way back down the stairs.   
Peter watched as Neal pulled two more envelopes from his coat pocket and slid them onto Jones’ and Diana’s desks, with a flourishing flick of his wrist. They also gave him skeptical looks, but he said nothing, only giving his classic “up-to-something” dazzling smile and returning to his desk to finish up the mortgage fraud case he had been working on the previous day.   
Peter looked back down at the envelope he was holding and opened it. Inside was a colored pencil drawing based off of the “prom picture” El had taken of him and Neal, with the words “you CONplete me” written above it. Peter laughed loudly and, looking towards Neal’s desk, saw him watching his reaction and laughing too. Diana and Jones were also opening their cards and chuckling with amused smiles. Neal grinned, clearly proud of himself, and then went back to work.   
As the hands on the clock came together over the 12, Neal left for his lunch break. He and Sara were meeting up at Montebello, to finally try what “NY times critics called the best restaurant in Manhattan. The only restaurant in New York to practice molecular gastronomy, where every dish is a work of art!” After a week of different persuasion tactics, Neal had convinced Peter to let him leave his radius to meet Sara at the destination they had been so joyously reunited outside of after nearly five years apart. Neal was ecstatic to try the food and spend time with Sara!  
As Neal left the office and made his way to the elevator, Diana finished the case file she had been reviewing and took it up to Peter’s office. She handed it to him and grinned at the card that Peter had propped up on his desk.   
“I see Caffery made a nice addition to your desk too,” she said.  
“Oh yes, and I intend to return the favor!” Peter responded with a chuckle  
“Really? No offense boss, but I doubt it will be as great as the card he gave me.”  
“Oh really?”  
She held her card out for Peter to view, barely containing her laugh. Peter looked down at an illustration of Diana and Neal drawing a picture of a bridge on a wall behind a painting in the Hilton hotel suite. In large letters it reads “You’re a work of art!”  
“hmmm…yes I’m sure I cannot compete with that. How does he feel he gets to scoff at me for making puns that are, if I do say so myself, genius, when he does things like this? Anyway, I have gathered supplies necessary for this operation. I went down to the evidence storage room and obtained these confiscated markers and this piece of paper.”  
Out from behind his desk, Peter pulled a giant piece of paper that was around the size of an average poster board.   
A knock at the door announced Jones’ presence as he walked in.  
Jones also noticed Peter’s card within moments and smiled saying, “not to brag, but I think mine’s the best.”  
“Oh really?” Diana and Peter said simultaneously.   
“Yep,” he said proudly as he took his card out of his inside jacket pocket.  
The card was an expertly done drawing of Jones and Neal together in the van, smiling as they bonded over their shared trauma of being trapped in the smelly and small surveillance van. Below it read “Always Rembrandt, you are an amazing friend!”   
Though none of them would ever admit it, they then spent the next ten minutes arguing over which card was the best.   
They were still deeply involved in the argument when they were interrupted by Peter’s cell phone ringing.  
“Hey Boss” came Lauren Cruz’s voice through the small speaker on Peter’s phone.  
“Hi Lauren! How’s Omaha? We miss you here!” Peter said into the phone.  
“Hey Lauren! How have you been?” Jones’ asked smiling at the chance to hear from her.  
“Things are going well; I was calling to discuss a card I got in the mail today…”  
“Oh?” Peter asked  
“Yeah…It’s signed from Nick Halden and it has a drawing of Neal, Jones, you, and me sitting at a restaurant table laughing, with the caption “You put the “Great” in the Great Plains.” I don’t even know how he got my new Omaha address. I was just wondering if he was up to something?”  
“From Nick Halden?” Peter asked.  
“Oh yes, well as you know I wrote my thesis on you and your tracking of Neal. I told him I had to write that name, Nick Halden, so many times in my thesis that I never wanted to see or hear it again…so of course he has been sure to use it around me ever since.”   
“That does sound like Neal, I had wondered why he suddenly started using it as his go-to alias on cases again, when he normally never reused pseudonyms. No, I don’t think he’s up to something, he just likes making Valentine’s day cards I guess.”  
“Okay, so I don’t need to worry about it being done on stolen parchment from ancient Babylon or in colored pencils from Abigail Adams’ private set?” she asked laughing as she remembered Neal’s antics.  
“Well with Caffery you never know,” said Jones, “but we think you’re in the clear. Now that you’re on the phone you can join in our debate that I am clearly winning, because I have the best card…”  
“Ha, in your dreams!” said Diana and with that, they launched into discussing the topic for another five minutes until Lauren’s cell battery died.   
The trio left in the office then decided to use their lunch breaks to create a card for Neal. It was waiting on his desk when he returned from his date with Sara.  
In big bold letters it read “I’ve got my F.B.EYE on you,” beneath which Diana had created a very intricate drawing of the golden FBI emblem. Below that was the wonderful artwork of Peter and Jones: four stick figures sitting in the surveillance van, all smiling, one with an added tracking anklet and hat.   
Thrilled by his card, Neal insisted on taping it to the front of his desk so everyone who walked by could see it. It was the first sight visitors to the NY White Collar headquarters saw when they entered the glass doors, and he was very proud of this fact.   
As the workday came to an end, Reese walked by on his way to the elevator and, seeing the oversized card, pinched the bridge of his nose muttering “I don’t get paid enough for this.”  
“Caffrey,” said Reese, “This is the headquarters for the NY White Collar division we are supposed to look professional!”   
“but…” Neal started to argue but was cut off.  
“Take it down, you’re not even supposed to be here!” Reese said, crossing his arms in exasperation.   
With an air of defeat, Neal undid the tape. He then grabbed his hat and carried what he had taken to calling the “Tour De Force of the White-Collar Division’s talents and skills” to his home.   
As he climbed the steps to enter the house, he saw June returning from a walk with Bugsy, her energetic pug, by her heel.   
“Hey June!” Neal called happily  
“Why, Hello Neal. How are you on this fine February day?” June replied   
“Doing well, how are you?” he asked as he slipped his hand into his coat pocket to remove the card he had prepared for June.  
“I am simply splendid; Cindy and I are going to go to Samantha’s soccer game tonight. Care to join us?”  
“I would love to, but Sara is coming over tonight and I need to do some preparation for the dinner I’m cooking. Tell Samantha good luck for me, not that she’ll need it!”  
“Indeed, she will not need it, she is becoming quite the star performer on her team!” June said with a proud smile.  
“Yes, she is! This is for you, happy Valentine’s day!” Neal said, handing June the card  
She opened the light green envelope to find a beautifully drawn illustration of herself, Neal, Mozzie, and Cindy all at June’s dinning room table fully invested in a game of cards. Samantha sat with Bugsy on her lap as she took on the nearly impossible role of Referee to keep the group, Mozzie in particular-though Neal and June were also occasionally found guilty, from cheating in some manner. The caption above the picture read, “Pugs and Kisses.”   
“I absolutely love it!” June said happily as she looked over her card.  
Neal beamed at her approval of her card and continued on his way to his apartment.   
He entered his apartment, grabbed the wall-safe command strips, and hung the Valentine from Peter, Diana, and Jones proudly on the wall next to the card he had received earlier that day from Mozzie.   
He and Mozzie had a tradition of exchanging cheesy cards; it had been an annual practice that even survived through Neal’s time in prison. On each of the four Valentine’s Days Neal spent in jail, Mozzie would attach a card to Stella and have her take it to Neal in the prison yard. Neal would then attach his card for Mozzie to Stella to bring back. Bill, one of the guards in the yard who was responsible for watching Neal, always clearly saw Stella bring Neal the envelope yet kindly turned a blind eye. Bill and Neal had an interesting relationship, mostly due to the fact that Bill realized and acknowledged that if Neal actually wanted to escape, he was smart enough that, no matter what precautions the prison took, he could still probably do it with relative ease. So, since he was staying by choice, Bill tolerated the occasional carrier pigeon.   
The card Mozzie gave to Neal this year read, “You had me at Merlot.”  
Neal’s card to Mozzie had had an illustration of the two of them drinking wine on Neal’s balcony with the caption, “Are you priceless U-boat Nazi plunder? Because you’re a masterpiece!” Mozzie had responded to receiving this card by saying, “Step aside DaVinci and Haustenburg, this card is the most beautiful work of art I have ever seen!”  
Neal spent another minute gazing happily at the new additions to his wall as he remembered his earlier interaction with Mozzie before he went to work preparing dinner. Sara was going to be at his apartment in the next two hours which did not leave him all that much time for preparing the meal he had in mind. He had been cooking for less than ten minutes when he heard a knock at the door.  
“Be there in a minute” he called as he rinsed his hands and went to the door.  
In the door frame stood Ellen smiling fondly at the man she had helped raise.   
“Ellen!” he said happily, embracing her in a hug.  
“Hello Neal! As requested, I have brought you the mysterious package. I kept it safe and didn’t open it.”  
“Thank you Ellen, I really appreciate you making the trip all of the way over here. It is really good to see you, do you want anything to drink? I’m told I have the best wine collection in town, and that’s by a true wine tasting professional. He was in the hospital recently, and the doctors told him to drink liquids…well let’s just say he didn’t drink water as they had been intending.”  
“Thank you Neal, but I can’t stay long, witsec and all.”  
“Yes of course, before you go…just a second let me grab it…here” Neal said presenting her with a lavender colored envelope.  
She opened the envelope revealing a drawing of a much younger Ellen walking a much younger Neal to his first day of third grade with the phrase “Police be mine” written above it.   
“I absolutely love it, thank you!” she said embracing him in one more hug before leaving the apartment.   
Neal took the package to his walk-in closet so that it would be out of sight, and then continued cooking. He had just finished the main entrée when he heard a knock at the door. He excitedly walked to the door and welcomed Sara inside.   
“Wow, you look beautiful” Neal said smiling at her.  
“You don’t look half bad yourself, handsome” she said with a chuckle, “something smells delicious!”  
“That would be Spanakopita and Galette for dessert!”  
They enjoyed a delectable dinner together, cleared away their dishes, and sat on the couch.  
“Alright Valentine,” Sara said with a smile, “ready for your present?”  
“I’m always ready for a present!” Neal said with a grin.   
Sara held out her gift for him to take. He opened it and found the bag filled with Gouache Acrylic Paints. The paints came from a store that was less than .01 miles outside Neal’s radius that he had been dying to check out. He had complained to Peter that is was cruel and unusual punishment to place such a store just barely out of his reach, yet Peter only responded “we didn’t place the store there, you’ve been talking to Mozzie too much if you believe we choose were miscellaneous art stores pop up!”   
Overjoyed Neal thanked her and then excused himself to go retrieve her present. He had placed the cylindrical package in a very elegant bag and attached a card to the outside. He presented it to Sara and she took it eagerly. She first opened the card which read “I would take you to the Metropolitan for Valentine’s day, but you are so beautiful you would outshine all of the art there!” Below was a colored pencil illustration of them kissing in front of the globe shaped fountain. 

Laughing at the card she opened the bag and stared at the brown cylinder package in disbelief. She quickly yet carefully removed the cap and looked inside. What she saw was the painting she had spent years of her life trying to get back.  
Neal gave his million-dollar smile and said casually, “Yeah I happened to find this old thing, and I’d heard you might be looking for it, so…”  
He was cut short as Sara threw her arms around him and kissed him.   
“Thank you, Neal,!” she said smiling widely looking from the brown cylinder to Neal and back, “This means so much!”  
After they had discussed their gratitude for each other’s presents, they put in a rom-com. Sara spent the majority of the movie making fun of the main characters and Neal spent the majority of the movie laughing at her commentary. After the movie ended, it was getting late. As Sara picked up her painting to go home, she turned back to Neal with a playful gleam in her eyes and said, “You know, technically you can’t give someone a gift that you stole but was theirs to begin with. So, I’ll be expecting another gift coming soon.”  
“Oh really?” Neal asked grinning, “well first of all, I’ve never really let the word “can’t” define my actions, so I believe I just did give you a stolen gift. Second, allegedly…I stole. It was stolen but who’s to say I did it and didn’t just come across it?”  
“Hmm” Sara said, “I’m sure you just happened to find it in a garage sale or something. Anyway, happy valentine’s day. Good night!”   
With that she smiled, then turned, and closed the door. Just as the clock hit midnight and Valentine’s day ended.


End file.
